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So this year in the MLB All Star Game there are 84 players in it!! Part of it has do with all the SP's that pitched Sunday that are not eligilble to play in Phoenix on Tuesday. Then there are other players such as Derek Jeter and Aramis Ramirez who just don't want to play.

The All Star Game has turned into the Pro Bowl, where players just don't want to play. Aramis Ramirez of the Chicago Cubs was asked to the All Star Game by manager Bruce Bochy and Ramirez declined to spend time with family in Dominican Republic. Then you have Derek Jeter who just doesn't want to play or even show up down there in Phoenix to even tip his cap to the fans and have MLB celebrate his 3000 hits.

Then there are the SP who can't pitch because they are ineligible, NL SPs Matt Cain & Cole Hamels. AL SPs Felix Hernandez, CC Sabathia (who replaced James Shields who pitched Sunday), James Shields and Justin Verlander. So after all of the players who just don't want to play it ends up being 84 totall players in this years All Star Game. So hopefully the game turns out to be good.

Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Mike Vrabel is going to retire from the NFL and join the Ohio State Buckeyes as an assistant coach, sources to the Columbus Dispatch. The paper reported the school has a tentative news conference scheduled for Monday to announce the hiring. Neither side has commented on the situation.

In 206 career NFL games, Vrabel has 742 tackles and 57 sacks. Vrabel was drafed in the third round of the 1997 draft by the Pittsburgh Steelers. Vrabel then went on to sign a contract with the New England Patriots in 2000, where he won 3 Super Bowls before being traded with QB Matt Cassel to the Chiefs in 2009. Vrabel has been part of NFL's labor negotiations as a member of the NFL Players Association's executive committee.

Vrabel who played at Ohio State was roomates with current head coach Luke Fickell.
Fickell was the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach before
being promoted to head coach after Jim Tressel's retirement.

So far DeronWilliams of the NewJersey Nets is the only big name superstar in the NBA to saythat he is going overseas to play if the lockout goes into theseason. This week Williams signed a one-year $5 million deal withBesiktas. Williams has stated that as soon as a deal is reached andthe lockout is over that he will return to the NBA. Williamsbelieves that some NBA stars could play overseas for the long term ifthe NBA owners get the deal that they are proposing.

One up and coming playerNew York Knicks LandryFields agrees with Deron Williams that more NBA superstars willgo and play overseas. Though Fields does not have any plans ofplaying overseas right now. Two other players have signed deals toplay overseas, SonnyWeems former TorontoRaptors guard and DariusSongaila former Philadelphia76ers forward.

One major thing that theowners want is to cut players salaries by a third where star KobeBryant would only be making $11 million a season. "If(European teams) knew he could be there for a full season, or theyknew I could be there for a full season, or they knew LeBronJames could be there for a full season, they'll pay more money,of course." said Deron Williams.

It would be a major blow tothe NBA owners if other stars follow Williams to Europe. This wouldgive the players union the leverage it needs to fight off the owners'demands. Williams said that NBPA executive director Billy Hunter wasin favor of the Williams playing in Europe. Williams said he has notspoken with Bryant, but he estimates he's heard from 10 to 15 otherplayers, some of them superstars, since his decision to play overseasbecame public.

Before making his decisionto play for Besiktas, Williams spoke with former teammates MehmetOkur of the UtahJazz and former college teammate DeeBrown.

Today Derek Jeter became the 28th player in MLB history to reach 3000 hits in his career and the first Yankee to reach 3000 hits. Jeter joined former Yankee Wade Boggs as the only 2 players to have there 3000th hit be a home run. The last player to reach 3000 hits was Craig Biggio for the Astros. Jeter just didn't get his 3000th hit today he had his best game of the season going 5-5 with 2RBI and 2 runs and falling a triple away from a cylce.

Derek Jeter is a sure fire Hall of Famer and will go down as one of the top 5 SS in MLB history. Jeter is the type of player that young kids look up to and one where major league pitchers don't wanna face. Jeter has been one of the best players in postseason history for the Yankees, winning 5 World Series in his career.

Jeter's career may be coming to an end here soon but he is still a prized player for the Yankees.

Lance Berkman's first choice this past off-season was to go back to the Astros and finish his career where it started in Houston. As many of you know he didn't get to go back to Houston because they didn't want him, so instead he signed a 1 year $8 million dollar deal with the St. Louis Cardinals.

Many teams and fans (including me) thought that Berkman's career was over and was just gonna be a platoon player for the Cardinals. Instead Berkman is an All-Star this season and has helped carry the Cardinals this season who have been riddled with injuries to Pujols, Holliday and Wainwright.

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Berkman has been more than just a leader on the field, he has also been a leader in the clubhouse. Berkman has played here barely a half-season. He says it feels "like 10 years" because of how he has been embraced.

This season Berkman already has more HR, RBI and runs than he did all of last year with the Astros and Yankees. Through the first half of the season Puma is batting .288, 24HR, 63RBI and an OBP of .401 and is looking to keep building on those numbers after the All-Star Break next week.

The Cardinals and Lance Berkman have not discussed any extension past this season or they haven't let it be known publicly. It will be interesting to see what the Cardinals do after the season with Berkman, as they will have the contracts of Albert Pujols, Adam Wainwright and Chris Carpenter to deal with as well.

Cardinals SP Kyle Lohse is scheduled to make 2 rehab starts and will be back in the rotation as the Cards number 5 SP.

With the return of Lohse the Cardinals rotation will look like this; Wainwright, Carpenter, Garcia, Westbrook and Lohse. The Cards may have the best rotation in baseball and could be one of the scariest rotations in the playoffs.

If Lohse can be anything close to what he was his first year in St. Louis the Cardinals will have the best 1-5 in baseball.

There were some big names that were traded just before the deadline this season (Oswalt, Lee, Haren) but their were some big names that were expected to be moved that weren't.

The biggest name by far was Adam Dunn. The week leading up to the deadline it looked as though Dunn would be traded from the Nationals to possibly the White Sox, Giants and Yankees. Nationals GM Mike Rizzo wanted to be blown away in any Dunn deal and was obviousley not offered enough for the power hitting first baseman. Dunn will be a free agent at the end of the season so those teams may have another shot at him if the Nationals and Dunn dont reach an agreement on an extension.

Royals OF David DeJesus was all but guarenteed to be traded until DeJesus tore a ligament in his thumb crashing into the wall last week, ending his season prematurely.

The MLB HR leader Jose Bautista was being asked about by many teams and his versatility gave him even more value than your typical slugger. The Blue Jays are content keeping their top hitter after no one was willing to meet their demands.

Rockies Joe Beimel, lefty relievers are always on the move at the deadline, but Colorado couldn't find a taker for Beimel.

Those were some of the big names that were thought to be on the move this season but in the end they weren't. These players can still be moved in August through waivers. The waiver deadline isn't until August 30.